Muslims And Faith: A Spiritual Exploration

Islam is a monotheistic faith with approximately 1.9 billion followers worldwide, making it the second-largest religious group after Christians. Muslims believe in the oneness and uniqueness of God (Allah), and that the Quran is the verbatim word of God. They also believe in angels, prophets, the Day of Judgment, and divine decree. These six beliefs are laid out in the Quran and Hadith.

Muslims believe that God is the creator of all things and has no offspring, race, gender, or body. They believe in angels, unseen beings who worship God and carry out God's orders, and that holy books or scriptures were revealed to God's messengers, including the Quran, the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, and the Scrolls.

Muslims believe that God's guidance has been revealed to humankind through specially appointed messengers or prophets, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. They believe that Muhammad, the last in this line of prophets, received the final revelation of Islam from God through the archangel Gabriel.

On the Day of Judgment, Muslims believe that humans will be judged for their actions in this life and will be rewarded with paradise or punished with hell. The concept of divine decree expresses the belief that everything is governed by God's will, but it does not negate free will as humans have freedom of choice without prior knowledge of God's decree.

These beliefs form the basis of the Islamic faith, and Muslims put them into practice through the Five Pillars of Islam, which include professing one's faith, praying five times a day, giving zakat (donating a portion of one's wealth), fasting during Ramadan, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Muslims believe in the oneness of God, or tawhid. God is the creator of all things, all-powerful, and all-knowing

Muslims believe in the oneness of God, or tawhid. This is the central concept of Islam and the religion's single most important idea, upon which a Muslim's entire religious adherence rests. Tawhid is derived from the Arabic word 'wahhada', meaning 'to unite' or 'to make one'. It reflects the struggle of monotheism against polytheism.

Muslims believe that God, or Allah, is the sole divine deity and does not share his divinity with other partners. He is the creator of all things and is all-powerful and all-knowing. God has no offspring, no race, no gender, no body, and is unaffected by the characteristics of human life.

There are three traditional categories of Tawhid: the Oneness of Lordship, the Oneness of Worship, and the Oneness of Allah's Names. These categories help Muslims to understand and purify their faith and worship.

The Oneness of Lordship (Tawhid Ar-Rububiyah) refers to the belief that Allah caused all things to exist and is the only one who created and maintains all things.

The Oneness of Worship (Tawhid Al-Uluhiyah/'Ebadah) states that because Allah is the sole creator and maintainer of the universe, it is only Allah who is worthy of worship.

The Oneness of Allah's Attributes and Names (Tawhid Adh-Dhat wal-Asma' was-Sifat) acknowledges that Allah is distinct from his creation and possesses attributes such as mercy, compassion, and forgiveness.

Understanding Tawhid is key to understanding Islam and the fundamentals of a Muslim's faith.

Muslims believe in angels, or unseen beings who worship God and carry out God's orders

Angels are conceptualized as servants of God, lacking passion and bodily desires. They are considered older than humans and jinn, and are believed to be created from a luminous origin by God. They are described as having different duties, including praising God, interacting with humans in ordinary life, defending against devils, and carrying on natural phenomena.

The angel Gabriel brought the divine revelation to the prophets. Other angels mentioned in the Quran include Nāziʿāt and Nāshiṭāt, who take the souls of the deceased; Hafaza, the Guardian Angel; Kiraman Katibin, Honourable Recorders who write down people's good and bad deeds; and Mālik, chief of the angels who govern Hell.

In Islamic art, angels often appear in illustrated manuscripts of Muhammad's life, with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and discerning the saved from the damned on Judgement Day. They are typically depicted with multicolored wings and masculine features, although later depictions are more feminine and androgynous.

Muslims believe in the holy books sent by God, including the Torah, the Bible, the Quran, the Psalms, and the Scrolls

Muslims believe that God (Allah) has sent guidance through His prophets and messengers, and that several of these prophets and messengers have also brought books of revelation. These include the Torah, the Bible, the Quran, the Psalms, and the Scrolls.

The Tawrat (Torah) was given to the Prophet Musa (Moses). Like all revelations, it included teachings about monotheism, righteous living, and religious law. The Quran says: "It is He Who sent down to you, in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it. And He sent down the Law [of Moses] and the Gospel [of Jesus] before this, as a guide to mankind. And He sent down the criterion [of judgment between right and wrong]" (3:3)exact text of the Tawrat generally corresponds to the first five books of the Jewish Bible. However, the exact words of the revelation to Moses are not preserved.

The Zabur (Psalms) was given to the Prophet Dawud (David). Not much is known about this revelation, but Muslim tradition confirms that the Psalms were recited much like poetry or hymns. The Arabic word "zabur" comes from a root word meaning song or music. The Quran mentions the Psalms with the use of the term zubūr (Arabic: زبور "writings") in five verses, and two of these mention that it was given to David (4:163; 17:55).

The Injeel (Gospel) was the holy book revealed to Isa (Jesus), according to the Quran. Most scholars and Muslims believe that it refers not to the New Testament but to an original Gospel given to Jesus as the word of Allah. Muslims believe that Jesus’ pure message has been lost, mixed with others’ interpretations of his life and teachings. The current Bible has an unclear chain of transmission and no proven authorship. Muslims believe that only the actual words of Jesus were “divinely inspired," yet they have not been preserved in writing.

The Suhuf Ibrahim, or the Scrolls of Abraham, were reportedly written by Ibrahim himself, as well as his scribes and followers. This holy book is considered to be lost forever, not due to deliberate sabotage but rather just due to the passage of time. The Quran refers to the scrolls of Abraham several times, including this verse: "Most surely this is in the earlier scriptures, the Books of Abraham and Moses" (87:18-19).

The Scrolls of Moses are an ancient body of scripture mentioned twice in the Quran. They are part of the religious scriptures of Islam. Jordanian scholar and professor of philosophy Ghazi bin Muhammad mentions that the "Scrolls of Moses" are identical to the Torah of Moses. Others have stated that they could possibly refer to the Book of the Wars of the Lord, a lost text spoken of in the Old Testament or Tanakh in the Book of Numbers.

Muslims believe that these earlier scriptures in their original form were divinely revealed, but that only the Quran remains as it was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. The Quran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God. The Quran is the only book of revelation that remains in its complete and unaltered form.

Muslims believe in the prophets sent by God, including Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad

Muslims believe that God sent these prophets with one message: to worship God alone and not to associate partners with Him (Monotheism). All prophets were sent to serve one humanity and prayed to the one God.

Muslims are required to believe in all the prophets sent by God. If a Muslim denies or disrespects a single prophet, they are considered outside of Islam.

Muslims believe in the Day of Judgment, or Qiyāmah, when humans will be judged for their actions and consigned to paradise or hell

Muslims believe in the Day of Judgment, or Qiyāmah, when all humans will be judged for their actions and consigned to paradise or hell. This is a fundamental tenet of faith for all Muslims and is considered one of the six articles of Islamic faith.

The Quran and the Hadith (sayings of Muhammad) describe the trials, tribulations, and details associated with the Day of Judgment. This day is also referred to as the "Day of Resurrection", and it is believed that the time of Qiyāmah is preordained by God but unknown to humans.

On the Day of Judgment, Muslims believe that all of humankind will be judged by their good and bad deeds and consigned to Jannah (paradise) or Jahannam (hell). The Quran emphasizes that even the weight of an atom's worth of good or evil deeds will be taken into account. Good deeds, like charity, prayer, and compassion towards animals, will be rewarded with entry to heaven, which is described as a place of joy and blessings. Sins that can condemn a person to hell are listed in the Quran, but it also makes clear that God will forgive those who repent.

The Day of Judgment is preceded by signs, including disruptions in human morality and the natural world, as well as the appearance of saviours like Mahdi and Jesus. Piety will be lost, and society will be filled with music, wine drinking, usury, homosexuality, disobedience, and fornication. The Earth will be destroyed, and all bodies will be resurrected from the dead to be judged and questioned about their deeds and faith during their life on Earth.

The Day of Judgment will be followed by the afterlife, where people will be rewarded or punished according to their actions. Heaven and hell are both believed to have different levels, with the worst people in the lowest depths of hell and the best people in the highest parts of heaven.

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